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Thursday, 11 August 2011

PPD Provides Digital Dailies For TV Series

Post Producers Digital is providing the digital dailies for a 13-episode TV series currently in production. The client's DOP is shooting with dual Sony F3 cameras (PMW-F3) recording to off-board nanoFlash recorders. This setup allows the uncompressed video to bypass the camera's internal circuitry and be saved as high bit rate, high quality QuickTime files. Additionally the cameras are using a new feature known as “S-Log gamma mode” that boosts the dynamic range of the video, allowing between 1.5 and 2 stops of extra light to be recorded.

As an all-digital tapeless project, a massive volume of video files are generated; these need to be offloaded quickly and safely. While on location throughout Canada and the US, a pair of Nexto portable backup devices provide the solution for storing camera-original footage.

Back in Toronto, the Nexto files are archived to LTO-4, (a high-speed backup system with a capacity of 800GB per cartridge) as well as to an external hard drive. This hard drive is then delivered to PPD for overnight processing where the footage is converted for Avid offline editing and QuickTime screeners are generated with burnt-in timecode. The next morning at the production office the screeners can be watched on any computer, allowing staff to create detailed notes for the editors.

Unlike traditional offline footage which is scaled down and of low quality, PPD’s conversion process allows offline editing with full-size HD images of near full-quality, while still providing fast, immediate playback and multiple real-time tracks with no rendering.